Thai Stock Market May Halt Losing Streak

The Thai stock market has finished lower in back-to-back trading days, sinking almost 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,530-point plateau although it may find traction on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with earnings news and bargain hunting potentially limited by sinking crude oil prices and surging coronavirus cases. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SET finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index slipped 4.39 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 1,528.32 after trading between 1,525.51 and 1,541.08. Volume was 30.988 billion shares worth 82.024 billion baht. There were 1,327 decliners and 448 gainers, with 407 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.54 percent, while Thailand Airport skidded 1.32 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.49 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical rallied 2.22 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.95 percent, Kasikornbank retreated 1.43 percent, Krung Thai Bank sank 0.96 percent, Krung Thai Card spiked 2.16 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 0.88 percent, PTT climbed 1.45 percent, PTT Exploration and Production fell 0.48 percent, PTT Global Chemical advanced 1.27 percent, SCG Packaging soared 2.25 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.26 percent, Siam Concrete surrendered 1.44 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Expressway, BTS Group and Gulf were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened mixed on Friday but all managed to finish slightly to the upside.

The Dow added 15.53 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 35,515.38, while the NASDAQ rose 6.64 points or 0.04 percent to close at 14,822.90 and the S&P 500 added 7.17 points or 0.16 percent to end at 4,468.00. For the week, the Dow rose 0.9 percent, the NASDAQ fell 0.1 percent and the S&P rose 0.7 percent.

Corporate results offered support, led by Walt Disney, which posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and a strong growth of its customer base.

In economic news, the University of Michigan’s preliminary report said U.S. consumer sentiment index fell to an almost 10-year low. Also, the Labor Department said import and export prices both increase more than expected.

Crude oil futures settled lower Friday as traders weighed the outlook for energy demand amid spikes in the delta variant coronavirus in several countries. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for September ended down $0.65 or 0.9 percent at $68.44 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release Q2 numbers for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 1.4 percent on quarter and an increase of 6.4 percent on year. That follows the 0.2 percent quarterly increase and the 2.6 percent annual decline in the previous three months.